Doner’s Down to 5; Couldn’t Rein in the Shepherd Connection

Update: The NY Post has reported that “lawsuit, filed by former chief marketing officer Bryan Yolles, claims he’s been trying for two years to get Doner to supply information about its pension plan as required under federal law.”

The suit alleges the agency ignored more than a dozen requests to provide a summary of the pension plan along with an individual statement detailing Yolles’ retirement benefits after he left the agency in October 2007.” Read the full piece, here.

Up until 2007 a guy named Nick Shepherd (pictured) was Blockbuster’s COO. 2007 was a bad year for Blockbuster &#151 they not only fired Shepherd (supposedly due to lost revenue) but also ad agency Doner. With advertising dollars dried up, Doner went elsewhere &#151 as did Shepherd, who ended up at a little restaurant chain called TGIFriday’s.

You may have heard the news today that Publicis has been named TGIFriday’s agency, now that Interpublic Group’s Deutsch/LA in Marina del Rey has stepped out of the way.

But some of you have said it’s a bit surprising that Doner didn’t win considering that Shepherd was named president and CEO of Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, which owns the restaurant chain, earlier this year. But is it?

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